Melissa Gisler Modanlou – Founder, Rock Juice
Melissa wants you to drink real wine - everyday. 
She's a certified Advanced Sommelier that has spent the past 12 years working in wine. For the first 7 of those years, she was launching and running a wine bar and retail shop in San Francisco (Ottimista + Spuntino). Then she learned about all the stuff that can go into wine, and all of the ways it can be processed and manipulated so that it that hardly resembles wine –the kind of wine she wants to drink, at least. So, in 2015, she started Rock Juice to bring organic, low-intervention wines to drinkers everywhere. Now she spends her days chasing down (drinking) honest and delicious wines from inspiring small producers around the world for Rock Juice, while trying to keep the trains running for her family. She’s also a mom of two young boys, whose appearance in the world inspired her to think about the ingredients she was putting in her body, and theirs. And ultimately led her to natural wines, and the idea to make them more accessible (hi, Rock Juice). Because let’s face it – wine is one of life’s great pleasures, and even as we (the collective we) have become more health-conscious, we’re not giving that up. Melissa’s philosophy, and the driving force behind Rock Juice, is awareness - be smart about what you’re drinking, and stick to the good stuff, made by real people, not big corporations, without chemicals (no thank you, Round Up) and other weird stuff. And most importantly, enjoy. Whenever you feel like it. Life is too short to live for the weekend.
She's a certified Advanced Sommelier that has spent the past 12 years working in wine. For the first 7 of those years, she was launching and running a wine bar and retail shop in San Francisco (Ottimista + Spuntino). Then she learned about all the stuff that can go into wine, and all of the ways it can be processed and manipulated so that it that hardly resembles wine –the kind of wine she wants to drink, at least. So, in 2015, she started Rock Juice to bring organic, low-intervention wines to drinkers everywhere. Now she spends her days chasing down (drinking) honest and delicious wines from inspiring small producers around the world for Rock Juice, while trying to keep the trains running for her family. She’s also a mom of two young boys, whose appearance in the world inspired her to think about the ingredients she was putting in her body, and theirs. And ultimately led her to natural wines, and the idea to make them more accessible (hi, Rock Juice). Because let’s face it – wine is one of life’s great pleasures, and even as we (the collective we) have become more health-conscious, we’re not giving that up. Melissa’s philosophy, and the driving force behind Rock Juice, is awareness - be smart about what you’re drinking, and stick to the good stuff, made by real people, not big corporations, without chemicals (no thank you, Round Up) and other weird stuff. And most importantly, enjoy. Whenever you feel like it. Life is too short to live for the weekend.